My decision to go in All senses gastronomy restaurant was rather random. A little bit of their advertising on Facebook (finally catching place) pretty good photoshoot and the nice presentation of their dishes on their internet site, motivated me to try out the idea of all your sences being involved during the dinner
However, I wasn’t convinced as I’ll explain bellow. Nevertheless, I think it is worth visiting this restaurant at least once for the food and the service. This is why I present it.
The idea of involving all of the senses in a meal as it was presented in the restaurant, is based on an audiovisual set that accompanies each dish served to participants. Soundtrack and video projectors on the walls of an enclosed room are trying to isolate the senses from the external environment and to focus on the senses of sight and hearing of the diner to the plate which lay in front of him in such a way as to enhance the senses of taste and smell. Or at least that is my perception about this project. Although there were some moments where I let myself and was isolated from the real environment, I couldn’t figure out how seeing selery fields on the walls and blood (pictures not real) on the table would make me enjoy more my food. Personally I think a successful restaurant should base the enjoyment with the participation of the senses of the diner in the dish that is presented to him and not on external factors such as video projections.
My objection moves on t the time pressure that exists among participants because of the design of the project. In order for the idea to succeed, there should be coordination in the temporal sequence of dishes which means that the diners must not only eat with common pace but follow the program flow of dishes of the restaurant as well. So there is default time with small tolerance where the visitor must finish his plate. As a result, the sense of comfort and slow food is lost. Another problem that arises is that in order for the music to be louder than the speeches of participants, is increased thus increasing the intensity of the speeches of the diners, because such a project results into speeches and comments onto the project itself from the visitors, especially when they visit the restaurant for the first time. So the loud music is rather annoying instead of bringing the desirable result Another issue that was a little annoying (and a lot of diners agreed) was the fast rotation of images with vivid colors on dark background which caused dizziness to my friends and me.
Returning to my first comment, in order to synchronize the flow of dishes with the remaining participants the waiter came to get my plate before I had finished, since I liked it a lot and I wanted to take my time to enjoy it before I finish it, he actually annoyed me instead of managing the desirable result which was satisfaction.
In conclusion I disagree with the design of the project because I want to enjoy my food, which was really good, with my own pace and not at the pace that the restaurant imposes to me.
FOOD
The food was the thing that I liked the most The process began by having us in the lobby of the Hall and serving us a cocktail as a starter. I particularly liked it and is the first cocktail that I evaluate in the presentation of a restauarant. The “Greek Tiger” is a cocktail based on ouzo and orange juice which fit each other perfectly. A welcome dish followed which was pigskin with tzatziki dust. Dull taste even though it had a nice presantation, however, whatever you do, pigskin will always be pigskin . There is always an undercurrent of tagkila while the paraepexergasteis is completely tasteless. After the appetizers, we were escorted to the dining room, we sat down and started the process. First was the celeriac with pine. Celeriac in form of chips onto a piece of the trunk of a pine tree. The environment smelled like pine however, teh celeriac chips were a bit burned. The next dish was roe tart of Messolonghi with sour cream and almond. However, the sour cream covered the other flavors even though the aroma of roe was discernible. Next is the burned bread, smoked cheese and salmon eggs. Very nice inspiration and execution both in appearance and taste. Same goes for the next dish, olives and grapes. Olive puree and black grapes preserved in olive oil. Amazing combination and very balanced taste. Another splendid dish were the shrimps with mayonaise and cheese. Fresh raw shirmps garnished with pickled Samphire and acccompanied by mayonnaise and dried cheese. Terrific feeling and the tanderness of the shrimp matched perfectly with the crispy texture of the cheese. Interesting delicacy was the raw squid with strwberry and mussel broth, however, I have better memory of the next dish which was brioche with prosciutto. Simple idea which highlighted teh contrast between sweet and salty. The next dish though didin’t excite me. Celeriac with Pistachio and Apple, without any special taste. However, the most well cooked dish was the next one. Wild boar with mushrooms and Salsify. For this dish, which was accompanied by a great red wine, I got upset when the waiter came to get it and I hadn’t finish it because I wanted to enjoy it. After they finished with the main courses it was time for deserts. Lemon with mastic which did not excite me, in contrast to the next desert which was amazing. “Coffee beans with frozen yogurt”. Coffee beans which basically were chocolate ice cream abd yogurt with syrup on top.
SERVICE
Service was excellent. Everything run clockwise and coordinated. The chef de cuisine was always present and she explained to us the dishes. The restaurant had parking service as well. The only “mistake” was the fact that when we went to the restaurant until the room for us to eat was ready, we were told to wait at the bar of the restaurant that hosts all senses gastronomy, which had no seats for us to sit and noone cared to find seats for us. I would also had liked ,during our waiting, to be served something except from water.
ENVIRONMENT
All senses gastronomy is a restaurant within a restaurant. It is located on the mezzanine of spiti neat eat and drink, and the owners have both spiti neat eat and drink and all senses gastronomy. In the lobby of the mezanine are 2 big tables where the Chef welcomes guests offering them a cocktail and a welxome dish while explaining the procedure which is about to follow. Very nice design and proper lighting. There is proper lighting in the dinning room as well. The room is dimly lit, which is necessary in order to project videos on the walls, but when the dishes are served there is enough light so the diner can see what he eats.
BEVERAGES LIST
There is no such list since the design of this project provides specific beverages with every dish served. Something that I agree with. I will comment however, on the the wines which accompanied my dinner. They brought us three wite ones and two reds. I found that the wite ones wheren’t the best choices for our dinner, without knowing what would be better (I am not sommelier in order to know). The first red however, was an amazing choice and it accompanied perfectly the boar. needs translation. I will undoubtedly try to find this wine for my personal taste as well.
CONCLUSION
As I mentioned in the introduction,this restaurant is worth a visit because not the ony the food is good but the service and environment as well. I was a bit sad because when one of the owners came to ask for our opinion, we weren’t very positive. Istead of focussing on the positive things of the restauant we started moaning about all the things I described in the introduction. Nevertheless, I think that with my presentation I justify my attidude towards her and the restauarant.
